Toyota is considering ramping up production of its Aqua [Prius C for export] compact hybrid in Japan to reduce a long backlog of orders.
Tetsuo Hattori, president of Toyota affiliate Kanto Auto Works, said, to achieve this, production of the Ractis compact – exported to Europe as the Verso-S and also sold in Japan and Europe as the Subaru Trezia – may be moved from from its Iwate plant in northern Japan to another plant in central Japan to free up capacity.
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The move to the Higashi Fuji plant would start from mid-May. Kanto Auto built 30,000 Aqua hybrids in February at the Iwate plant and plans to make the same number this month.
Hattori did not say how many more Aqua hybrids could be produced once capacity is freed up. In February, Toyota said that it received 120,000 orders for the compact hybrid car about a month after its December launch, 10 times its monthly sales target.
